STC has become one of the most outstanding
meets in the mid-Atlantic region
by Pearl Watts
DINWIDDIE VA 5/10/02 -- In its first three years of existence,
the Southern Track Classic had
quickly turned into one the most outstanding elite meets in the
mid-Atlantic
region. The fourth edition of the STC held on Friday night at Dinwiddie
(VA)
High School further enhanced the meet's reputation with a bevy of
noteworthy
performances on both the boys and girls side.
Held in picture perfect conditions which saw temperatures hovering
in the
upper 70's in the early evening and then dropping mildly into the
upper 60's
in late evening with virtually no wind, the weather only seemed
to help
encourage the superb fields which meet director Dan Ward had assembled.
The meet has always attracted many of the top notch distance runners
from
the state of Virginia with a sprinkling of other distance standouts
from the
East Coast in its early existence and that fact was very evident
in the boys
mile run where Bobby Lockhart of Handley High (VA) outdueled Brian
Dalpiaz of
Sayville, NY with Lockhart winning in a nation leading time of 4:08.35
and
Dalpiaz second at 4:09.61.
Lockhart took the lead from the outset in the fifteen runner field
and went
through the first 440 yards in 62.4 with Dalpiaz, Phil Gaeta of
Oakton and
Denbigh freshman Derrick Robbins right with him. Lockhart matched
that time
on his second quarter mile as he passed 880 yards in 2:04.8 with
Dalpiaz,
Gaeta, Robbins still holding close positioning and Virginia runners
Brandon
King of Western Branch, New Kent's Guy Alton, Bayside's Mike Stoop
and Daniel
Kane of Louisa County all giving chase at 2:07.4 or better.
Lockhart continued to push the pace and passed the 1,320 yard mark
at
3:07.8 with Dalpiaz a couple of strides behind; Gaeta in third at
3:09.2 and
the rest of the field starting to string out.
On the backstretch of the final lap, Dalpiaz pulled up to right
behind
Lockhart as the Handley senior was at 3:38.7 with 220 yards to go.
From
there, boys outstanding runner award winner Lockhart had enough
left in
reserve and went through 1,500 meters at 3:51.6 before gradually
lengthening
his lead on the homestretch and getting his personal best mile of
4:08.35.
Sayville NY junior Dalpiaz greatly improved his mile p.r. in second
at 4:09.61
and Gaeta was third at 4:16.39 as nine runners dipped under 4:21.
The girls mile race was not as closely contested as the
boys early in the
race but it did also have a fairly close race at the end like the
boys.
Pre-meet favorite Keira Carlstrom of Oakton had the lead to herself
at 73
seconds for the first 440 with the chase pack led by Amber Blain
of Wester
Branch, Menchville's Megan Isaacs and Jennifer Beury of Cave Spring
coming
through at 74.5.
Carlstrom hit the 880 mark at 2:28.4 and held a three second lead
over the
pack and still held a lead of three seconds at the 1,320 mark, which
she
passed at 3:45.0 with Delaney Moje of Western Albemarle, Isaacs
of Menchville
and Jennifer Boyd of Hickory as the trio at 3:48.
Defending champion Moje then started to make her move on the backstretch
and was on Carlstrom's heels with 220 yards to go (4:24). Carlstrom,
like
Lockhart, had enough left at the end after being able to set the
pace early
in the race and responded with a 33 second final 220 to win in 4:56.97
with
Moje getting a huge personal best of 4:58.21 in second place and
Hickory
junior Boyd third at 5:02.97.
The other distance events also produced outstanding numbers. The
boys 800
meter run had a big pre-race buildup with Virginia rivals Richard
Smith of
South Lakes and Alex Tatu of Thomas Dale along with Bobby Curtis
of St.
Xavier (KY) the top names entered.
Smith led the tight, twelve runner field
through 200 meters at 27 seconds but did not keep the pace honest
enough and
Curtis took over the lead at 400 meters; which was reached at 57.6.
Curtis maintained a small lead on the backstretch and was at 1:24.3
for 600
meters with Smith right behind the Kentucky junior. Curtis still
held the
lead coming off the final turn but at that point Smith switched
gears and put
on a great final burst in the final 100 meters to easily take the
victory
with the nation's fourth best time thus far this year at 1:51.47.
Matt Wolak of Mills Godwin had a strong stretch drive in overtaking
Curtis for second as
Wolak clocked 1:53.24 with Curtis third (1:53.36) and Tatu fourth
at 1:53.92.
The girls 800 brought together a freshman flash along with a junior
trying
to regain her freshman form of two years ago. James Monroe freshman
Shylan
Bumbrey had been running well all season and then really opened
some eyes
with her win at the T.C. Williams Invitational the week before this
meet by
winning in an excellent time of 2:13.91 after setting a very swift
early pace.
At the Southern Track Classic, Bumbrey again set a very fast early
pace
with marks of 30.8 seconds at 200 meters and hitting the 400 mark
at 63.8
with juniors Leslie Treherne of Western Branch and Potomac's Corvette
Johnson
doing their best to stay close. Bumbrey still led at 600 meters
but Treherne
was steadily gaining ground and Johnson was still close in third
place.
Treherne then made her move off the final curve with Bumbrey tiring
somewhat and Treherne, who had run 2:09.38 two years ago as a freshman
at the
state outdoor meet but was not able to compete last year outdoors
after
suffering a leg injury during the basketball season, took over down
the
homestretch and won in a very good time of 2:12.83 with Bumbrey
rallying
somewhat on the final straight to claim second (2:14.09) while fast
closing
junior Huma Husain of West Springfield nailedg down third (2:15.71)
with
Johnson of Potomac fourth in 2:16.84.
The girls 3,200 run saw senior Laura Stanley of Carolina Day (NC)
break the
meet record by almost 20 seconds with her winning time of 10:32.84.
Stanley
took the lead from the outset and posted splits of 75 seconds for
the first
400; 2:36 at 800 and 5:16 at 1,600 meters but had Warren County
sophomore
Emily Harrison running right with her.
Stanley's steady running took her throught the next 800 meters
in 2:41
(7:57 total) with Harrison now four seconds behind. Stanley then
continued to
pick up the pace and her final 800 meters in 2:35 enabled her to
match her
first 1,600 split with another 1,600 split of 5:16 for the win in
10:32.84.
Warren County's Harrison held on for second place in a breakthrough
race
which saw her set a personal best by almost 20 seconds at 10:50.50
and Atlee
senior Tiffany Cross also had a personal best race with her third
place
finish (10:54.27).
The boys 3,200 run had one of the deepest fields ever for Virginia
with six
runners from the Old Dominion state ducking under 9:14.
Jamestown senior Bryce Ruiz set a swift, solid pace from the outset
and
took much of the 14 runner field through the first 400 at 67; 800
meters at
2:15 and then two successive laps at 69 seconds to hit the halfway
mark at
4:33. Ruiz then put up another 69 second lap and still maintained
the lead
with 1,200 meters remaining.
On the backstretch of lap six, John Crews of Rockbridge County
took over
the lead and did it for good. Crews put together three final laps
with one at
67 seconds followed by two straight at 66 to come home in a personal
best by
almost ten seconds at 9:02.31.
Senior Fleet Hower of Marion made a hard charge in the final 400
meters to
claim second at 9:05.35 and just held off Maggie Walker senior John
Piersol,
who was third in a personal best of 9:05.82. Jamestown senior Ruiz
came home
fourth in 9:10.05 followed by the Thomas Jefferson (Alexandria)
duo of
sophomore Christo Landry (9:12.16) and junior Keith Bechtol (9:13.55).
With those six under 9:14 along with Handley's Bobby Lockhart, Matt
Keally
of Ocean Lakes and Fork Union's Kippy Keino also under those times
earlier
this season, the state now boasts an unheard of before for Virginia,
nine
runners under 9:14 for 3,200 meters.
The barrier races saw dual wins, in a way, for both the girls and
boys. On
the girls side, Western Branch senior Lauren Taylor's victories
in the
hurdles netted her the girls outstanding runner award. In the 100
hurdles,
Taylor held a half step lead over her Eastern Region rival Jelyn
Quick of
Menchville through five hurdles but Quick closed to almost even
at the eighth
hurdle before Taylor pulled away slightly over the final two hurdles
to win
in 14.26 with Quick a close second at 14.30.
The 300 hurdles were not as close. With Quick a scratch from the
race,
Taylor had the race pretty much her own way and broke Quick's meet
record
from last year of 43.87 with her win in 43.54 with Meadowbrook senior
Shaunte
Barber the runnerup at 45.82.
The boys 110 high hurdles had Menchville junior Dwight Porter as
the leader
until he clipped the final hurdle very hard with Atlee senior Nick
Robinson
getting the lean to win in 14.46 and edge seniors Antoine Woods
of Gar-Field
(2nd; 14.48) and F.W.Cox's Isi Azeke (3rd; 14.49).
The 300 hurdles was a battle among Woods of Gar-Field, Robinson
of Atlee
and senior Jonathan Chapman of Thomas Dale with Woods the leader
until after
the sixth hurdle. Chapman then forged to the lead over the seventh
and then
eighth and final hurdle but Robinson made a strong move in the last
couple of
strides to get to the line with Chapman with the final decision
a tie for
first place with both Robinson and Chapman timed at 38.83.
The 400 dash produced some superior performances with Quentin Bowen
of
Heritage moving out very quickly from lane four and making up the
stagger on
all the runners in lanes five through eight in the first 200 meters.
Bowen
did not let up and took the boys 400 by over 10 meters in a meet
record time
of 47.24 while the girls 400 dash had Willingboro (NJ) junior Okechi
Ogbuokiri speed to the victory in 55.38 with Tallwood sophomore
Faraign Giles
the runnerup at 56.99.
The short sprints saw Caroline County senior Courtney Green as
a double
winner in taking both the girls 100 dash (12.14) and 200 dash (24.93)
titles
while pre-race favorite Michael Johnson of Heritage won the boys
100 dash in
10.64 with Michael Lewis of Greensville County second in the 100
(10.77) and
then coming back to claim the 200 dash victory in 21.82 by edging
Sherrod
Lewis of Patrick Henry-Ashland (21.84).
There was also some hot relay action as the Kellam girls 4x800
squad ran
very even splits to set a meet record by over 20 seconds with their
time of
9:23.13 while the Willingboro boys 4x800 squad posted one of the
nation's top
times of 7:52.53 with their meet record setting win.
Willingboro took both 4x400 relays as well with the boys squad
running
3:20.66 and the girls 4x4 setting a new meet record of 3:50.18 with
Ogbbuokir
anchoring in 54.5. The girls 4x100 relay saw Salem (48.08) notching
the win
over Eastern Region rival Bethel in the runnerup spot at 48.20 while
the
Hayfield squad of Marcus Tyus, Adam Bush, Randle Logan and Robert
Malone took
the boys 4x100 relay in 42.80.
In field event action, the throws produced double victors on both
the girls
and boys side as F.W. Cox senior Lindsay Neuberger defended her
title in the
girls shot put (47-6.5) and broke her own meet record in the discus
throw
(131-6) while Robinson junior Steve Huntzinger won the boys shot
(57-1.75)
and just missed the discus meet record with his win at 169-0 with
Jim Tiller
of L.C.Bird (164-3) and Chris Widhalm (161-7) also over 160 feet.
The boys horizontal jumps had John Bailey of CHHT the winner at
22-8.25
with William Fleming's Calvin Bannister second (22-4.5) while the
triple jump
saw Bannister's William Fleming teammate Ryan McCoy claiming that
title at
47-6.75. The girls triple jump had girls outstanding field event
performer
winner Yvette Lewis of Denbigh explode to the win at 40-8 with defending
champion Amy Seward of Salem second in the triple (39-7.75) and
winning the
long jump by almost a foot at 18-7 to set a new meet record.
The girls high jump winner was Oakton senior Bonnie Meekins at
5-4 with
Lewis of Denbigh second, also at 5-4, while senior Keith Moffatt
of
Menchville won the boys high jump title for the second year in a
row (6-10).
The girls pole vault had Kira Barcus of Atlee the winner on misses
over
defending champion Alicia LaRoche of Centreville as both cleared
11-6 to
break LaRoche's record set last year of 11-0 and junior Chip Heuser
of St.
Xavier won the boys vault at a new meet record height of 15-6 with
seniors
Daniel Garrett of Great Bridge second (15-0) and Centreville's David
Sullivan
in third place (15-0).
Southern Track Classic
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